Playoff Experience

As the calendar turns to September, MLB teams may expand their rosters to include up to 40 players. The Mariners, however, will wait to expand their roster, as the players most likely to be called to the big club are currently with the Tacoma Rainiers and are poised to win their division in the Pacific Coast League and enter the playoffs later this month.

Mariner (and former Rainier) manager Darren Brown explains that the Mariners will wait to recall their AAA players until the conclusion of the playoffs, as he believes playing in the AAA playoffs is a valuable experience that will ultimately help the Mariners in the long run.

But, playoff experience, after all, is something the current active Mariner roster lacks. Only a handful of players have appeared in the MLB playoffs:

Of all the players on the active roster right now, only eight have ever experienced the MLB playoff atmosphere. And, in addition to that, only a couple current Mariners have a substantial body of playoff work under their belts.

So, when Darren Brown says the members of the Rainiers will benefit from participating in the AAA playoffs, certainly these Rainier players–future Mariners–will have the rare opportunity to hit and pitch in a playoff atmosphere. And, while these players would likely benefit from having the chance to play at the MLB level, even after playing in the AAA playoffs, they will still have a couple weeks to get their feet wet with the Mariners. The decision to have them play through the playoffs and then join the Mariners is a win-win for these players, who have earned the opportunity to participate in their playoffs.